Peter Burggräf

Costs, quality and scalability: Impact on the value chain of electric engine production

Recent years have seen an increasing attention in electric vehicles. But due to high prices, there is only a moderate customer acceptance and market penetration. Companies need to build up new competencies to be able to develop and produce competitive electric vehicles. Moreover, a concentration on either cost or quality will not be sufficient to make electric mobility attractive to customers and to obtain sustainable success. Therefore, companies in the field of electric mobility production have to lead in both: cost and quality. This paper focuses on the electric engine production, the emerging costs, the influences on the customer value and the scalability of production processes.

Virtual Production Systems

The use of simulation systems is of significant importance for companies in high-wage countries as the requirements of product- and process quality are generally higher than in low-wage countries due to conditions of the market. Since the implementation of simulation tools is not value-adding in the first place, the performance of virtual product development chain must therefore be continuously increased in terms of greater planning efficiency. Research in the field of virtual production systems therefore addresses the following issue.

Assessment and Configuration of a Product Production System

The insight that manufacturing companies nowadays have to compete in an increasingly dynamic and differentiated market environment with increased competition is not new. Nevertheless, it is still difficult for many companies, particularly in high wage countries, to cope with the dilemma of simultaneously increasing cost pressure and differentiation. The following paper introduces a model to address this challenge. The model attempts to give support in finding the right fit between the production system set up and the product portfolio offered to the market. The core element is a navigator for an integrative assessment and configuration of product production systems in the domains “Customer Value Management”, “Product Architecture and Technology Design”, “Integrated Product and Production Design” and “Production Process Design”.

Process alternatives in the battery production

The future demand for Lithium-Ion-Cells is definitely going to increase. The main part accelerating the development is the cell production for electric cars. In order to gain more market share it is necessary to build up high-quality machines and connect them to an efficient process. Problematic for this target is the diverse process chain. An international survey showed that most companies are focused on just one specific operation; they cannot handle all steps with their own solutions. This paper presents a way to solve the problem by identifying, characterizing and assessing product alternatives along the whole process chain. In addition to that interdependences were detected and technology chains got written down in a last step.

Cost-benefit analysis for disruption prevention in low-volume assembly

Manufacturing companies face rising pressure due to increased competition. Traditionally, companies have merely concentrated on offering impeccable, cost-efficient products. Today, however, flexibility and on-time delivery are additional requirements to satisfy the customers. At the same time, disruptions in production, especially in low-volume assembly, still frequently occur, leading to economic losses and delayed customer deliveries. The approach proposed in this paper strives for improving the disruption situation in low-volume assemblies. A detailed disruption management methodology has been developed, aiming at realizing an efficient reduction of disruptions, while at the same time considering the specific characteristics of low-volume assembly. The methodology is supported by a catalog of pre-emptive measures. These measures are known to reduce the disruptions’ occurrence or to diminish their consequences. In general, the approach pursues the basic idea to implement particularly those measures, which have the best cost-benefit-ratio. Based on the analysis of the cost-benefit-ratio of each measure, the developed methodology aims at improving the disruption situation in assembly and thus providing a high on-time delivery rate. The usability of the methodology for the low-volume assembly context has been confirmed by assembly experts on the basis of an application of the methodology in an exemplary case study.

Störungsrelevante Montageprozesse erkennen : Eine Bewertungsmethodik für die Kleinserie

Kurzfassung Die Montage der Kleinserienproduktion befindet sich in einem Dilemma. Obwohl Störungen häufig auftreten, bleibt für eine umfassende und nachhaltige Störungsvermeidung meist keine Zeit. Die Folge sind wiederkehrende Probleme im Montageablauf. Das WZL der RWTH Aachen hat deshalb eine gezielt aufwandsarme Methodik entwickelt, um Montageprozesse bewerten und deren Störungskritizität sichtbar machen zu können. Auf der Basis dieses innovativen und bereits industriegeprüften Vorgehens können beispielsweise kritische Bauteile schneller erkannt und begrenzte Ressourcen zur Störungsvermeidung gezielter eingesetzt werden.

Economie level of detail for assembly planning

In order to be competitive, companies have to reduce their production costs and thus their assembly costs with increasing quality requirements. To achieve this, companies plan their assembly processes as detailed as possible. Simultaneously, because of an expending range of products with numerous variants, small batches and shorter product life cycles, the question arises, to what extent the effort of a detailed planning is still justified. In order to confirm the described practical problem and in order to validate first solution hypotheses on the determination of an economical planning depth of the assembly planning, a preliminary study was conducted at the WZL (Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering) of the RWTH Aachen University. The results of this study are presented in the following paper.

Adaptive Montage für XXL-Produkte

Kurzfassung Die Montage von großskaligen und komplexen Produkten zeichnet sich oftmals durch schlechte Datenverfügbarkeit, geringe Prozessstandardisierung und späte Produktänderungen aus, was häufig zu Unterbrechungen des Montageablaufs führt. Gleichzeitig sind die Produktionsressourcen typischerweise sehr flexibel. In einem Forschungsprojekt zwischen dem IPH Hannover und dem WZL der RWTH Aachen wird daher eine Methodik entwickelt, welche die Identifikation und Bewertung von Montageprozessalternativen im Störungsfall ermöglicht. Als Bewertungsgröße werden die logistischen Zielgrößen herangezogen.

Factory Carbon Footprint Design

Energy consumption and emissions are the two main sustainability issues of German companies. The main reasons for efficiency increase and emission reduction are not, as often proclaimed, energy costs, but the demands of customers and legislators for low carbon emissions. Particularly at machine level and process chain level various methods for analysis and improvement of the energy efficiency already exist. At factory level there is no systematic approach. The method Factory Carbon Footprint Design is an appropriate tool for that issue. The method is derived from the activity-based costing method and has two main parts: The Activity-based Carbon Footprint Accounting and the Target Carbon Footprint Design. Using the Activity-based Carbon Footprint Accounting, the carbon footprint of all energy consumers can be allocated to the goods produced in the factory. This contains not only the carbon footprint of the manufacturing machines, but also the periphal equipment and the administration and other indirect parts of the factory. The Target Carbon Footprint Design is a systematic approach to reduce the overall carbon footprint of a factory.

Strategic Fit: Overview of Cost, Quality and Scalability Impact on the Added Value Network in Electric Engine Production

Electric vehicles are in direct competition with conventionally powered cars. However, high prices currently result in a moderate acceptance and low market penetration. Producing companies have to attain new competencies in electric vehicle production as well as develop existing competencies at an early stage to be able to create attractive products for the customer. Requirements for costs, quality and scalability can be met due to purpose design, integrated product and process development, modularization of machinery and intense process know-how along with continuous consideration of alternative production processes. Nevertheless, designing new value added networks with a strategic fit among all participants remains to be done.